Swedish government examines migration policy

The Swedish Government has decided to appoint a cross-party commission of inquiry to examine Sweden’s future migration policy.

The inquiry is to consider the design of the policy with the aim of establishing a system that is sustainable in the long-term.

In a changing world, migration policy should reduce the need for temporary solutions and ensure a permanent system the enjoys broad support in the Swedish Riksdag (parliament). The Migration policy must be humane, legally secure and effective.

The inquiry’s remit includes considering:

whether the general rule should be to grant persons in need of international protection temporary or permanent residence permits;

whether it should be possible to grant asylum seekers residence permits on grounds other than those provided under EU law and Swedish convention commitments and, if so, to particularly consider whether a new humanitarian ground for granting residence permits should be introduced;

the extent to which family reunification should be possible if the person to whom a third-country national cites family ties has applied for asylum and been granted a residence permit in Sweden; and

whether a maintenance requirement should apply in family reunification and, if so, how this requirement should be designed.

In its work, the inquiry is to conduct an international assessment that primarily looks at the regulations of other EU countries, and analyse what the contributing factors are in Sweden that lead people to seek asylum here.

The terms of reference are based on an agreement between the government parties, the Centre Party and the Liberal Party.